Thursday 10 March 2011 09.37 EST
First published on Thursday 10 March 2011 09.37 EST

David Mannion, the highly rated editor-in-chief of ITV News, is to step back from the sharp end of TV news and current affairs after almost three decades, to take a strategy role advising ITN chief executive John Hardie.

Mannion will stand down as editor-in-chief of ITV News in July after the best part of nine years, having capped a fine year with News at Ten picking up awards in 2010 from Bafta and the Royal Television Society.

From the summer he will take on the newly created role of special adviser to Hardie to "influence ITN's strategy and policy at a corporate level". Mannion, who in the late 1990s established his own media consultancy, will advise on future planning, new business and looking to grow revenue outside of ITN's established clients.

"This has been a huge decision for me but after a decade in my current role it feels the appropriate time for me to do other things," said Mannion. A replacement for Mannion is yet to be announced.

Mannion has enjoyed to extensive stints at ITN starting in 1979 and has also been editor of ITV current affairs programmes Tonight with Trevor McDonald and The Cook Report. He was also deputy editor of Channel 4 News.

"David has been a key driving force behind news on ITV in five separate decades," said the ITV director of news, current affairs and sport, Michael Jermey. "He has played a major role in shaping modern television news. His enormous contribution to ITV News cannot be overstated."

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